The doyen of German marketing, Hans Domizlaff, spoke as early as the 1930s about “branded goods with a brand face” and came to the conclusion that: “The exclusive right to a branded product must be protected by a designation that cannot be imitated.”

Brand names, figurative signs (logos), tone sequences (jingles), moving images (e.g., video clips, holograms), and advertising slogans are individual signs created by creative advertising and marketing professionals. They mark goods and/or services as products of a company, and sometimes the company itself. First, such a sign is developed to represent the product and the company. It must meet a variety of criteria: linguistic and cultural criteria of domestic and foreign markets, but also trademark law criteria for trademark protection at home and abroad.

When developing new brands, trademark lawyers are often only involved to apply for trademark protection once a new sign has already been chosen and the advertising campaign is being prepared. It is not uncommon for it to be discovered at this late stage that the new sign cannot be protected under trademark law, infringes third-party trademark rights, or is so weak that it would be difficult to be enforced even with trademark protection. Marketing experts often lack the advice of trademark law specialists who have knowledge of marketing and branding as well as an understanding of the work of advertising and marketing experts and can provide them with constructive support, even during the trademark development phase.

This consultancy gap in brand development is closed by brandeur^® brand consultancy as the “missing link” between marketing and trademark law. Under the service mark brandeur^®, we advise companies in the field of trademark law even before a trademark is registered, during the development phase of names, logos, dynamic signs, slogans, and other signs that are to become trademarks. Our trademark law oriented brand development and trademark strategy consulting is carried out in close cooperation with your company's marketing department and the advertising agency working for your company.